A Felted Léttlopi Bag

I like to say that I am “borne a knitter, weaver by choice”, and those two very often go together.

Recently, I participated in a fantastic Lopi sweater knit-along at the Berroco Lovers Ravelry group, where – besides great company – needles were running hot at stranded color-work yokes, and many participants dared to steek (cutting what we’ve just knitted). For me, this resulted in a great new Útivist (outdoor) cardigan … and leftover yarn.

Let’s see … the leftover yarn … Can we weave it? Yes, we can! It was almost like a natural handshake between the Útivist flower design and a hexagon flower in matching colors. Since I wanted something to go with my new cardigan, an over-the-shoulder bag suggested itself.

Weaving the Léttlopi wool is a treat. The wool looks like single spun, but it isn’t, so it is sturdy enough for weaving. And Léttlopi is a worsted weight yarn … perfect for all TURTLE hexagon pin looms.

To achieve a denser fabric for the bag I wanted to felt it. I’m not an experienced felter, and the woven fabric was already great without felting, but once again the Léttlopi wool performed amazingly: Very little shrinkage, absolutely no color run, a super soft yet sturdy fabric.